Krugersdorp Afrikaner bludgeoned to death Dec 16 2010

Dec 16 2010 - KRUGERSDORP. A local Afrikaner man, Piet Desfountain, 53, was bludgeoned to death in his Gerhard Maritz Avenue home in Krugersdorp by four black men who had torn down the security gates at around 03:30 in the night and stormed in with hammers and shovels.

Lizel Desfountain, 49, also was brutally assaulted after her husband was bludgeoned to death. She however saved her life by managing to flee and now is in hospital. Her condition is unknown. Beeld journalist Jacques Steenkamp reports that the couple were married about three months ago. It was Mr Desfountain’s second marriage.

It took the police more than an hour to respond to a neighbour's emergency call – but SAPS spokesman captain Jacob Raboroko said the long waiting period was “irrelevant…’ … they did show up eventually…’ By that time of course the attackers were long-gone…

The SAPS had earlier also denied to family-friends that any murder had even taken place.

The couple were asleep when their home was invaded. Family member Dr Tommy Jooste said when hearing the home-invaders tear down his security gate and destroy the flood-lights Mr Desfountain had stormed from the bedroom and started struggling and fighting with the four black men. "He fought fiercely for his life and after he had collapsed to the floor they assaulted Lizel. He was on the floor next to his wife before she passed out from the pain' she said.”

The attackers were rummaging through the house and Mrs Desfountain woke up and and immediately fled from the house. She jumped into her car and drove off at high speed. Neighbour Piet Madonsela who lives about 300 metres from the house, woke up from her screams at around 4am."I heard her screaming hysterically at the gate. When I opened it she was covered in blood and her clothes were shredded. She said: 'they are busy killing him.'

Mr Madonsela said he was unable to call for help from his cellphone because he'd run out of airtime. And her phone was stolen. So the bloodied, traumatised woman and Mr Madonsela started knocking on the doors of neighbours for help - but they were all too terrified to open the door to them."I look like a crook I suppose...' he said.

Mrs Desfountain was eventually able to locate her sister Ms Lavonne van Wyk – and she and her friend Dave Haasbroek then called the SAPS and the emergency services. The injured woman now is in hospital. Beeld’s article does not say anything about her current condition.

The blood-smeared floor in the Desfountain couple’s home in Krugersdorp and a broken hairclip owned by Mrs Desfontain tell a story of senseless violence… Picture by Beeld photographer Lauren Mulligan.

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Haasbroek and Madonsella then jumped in his car to drive to the Desfountain house. The two men were greeted by a scene of carnage: “The house was coated in blood. The attackers had covered Piet with a duvet so that only his face was showing. I looked to see if he was still alive but he seemed dead. We waited for over an hour for the police to show up. It was the most pathetic police reaction ever,' said Mr Haasbroek. He told Beeld that the murder-victim’s face was disfigured with deep gaping wounds.

SAPS Krugersdorp denied that a murder even took place:

Beeld writes that his ex-wife Wilma - enroute to her new home in Richard's Bay – was phoned about her ex-husband’s death and asked her Krugersdorp friends David and Lorraine Geyer to confirm it with the SAPS. However, the Geyers ran into a wall of silence: "At the Krugersdorp police station we were told that 'nobody was murdered and that they knew nothing about it,' said Mr Geyer.The couple then went to the murder-scene and confirmed that Mr Desfountain had been murdered with Beeld's journalist. His daughter from his first marriage, Madelaine, 29, showed up shortly thereafter and burst into tears.He also leaves a son, Etienne, 32.

SAPS captain Jacob Raboroko – asked to comment -- told Beeld that it was 'irrelevant how long it took before the police showed up. They were probably busy elsewhere.They did show up eventually...'

By that time however - the murderers were long-gone and nobody has thus far been arrested.

The term "genocide" was coined by legal scholar Raphael Lemkin in 1943, writing:

'Generally speaking, genocide does not necessarily mean the immediate destruction of a nation, except when accomplished by mass killings of all members of a nation. It is intended rather to signify a coordinated plan of different actionsaiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves.

The objectives of such a plan would be the disintegration of the political and social institutions, of culture, language, national feelings, religion, and the economic existence of national groups, and the destruction of personal security, liberty, health, dignity and lives of the members of such groups... '